


one small (fiery) crush 💫 1/12

by fredastaire



Series: ⭐ 12 days of tyrus ⭐ [1]
Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: 12 Days of Tyrus, M/M, all my info of hannukah is from jewish friends and the internet so.... i hope this is okay??, day one hannukah, i only know how gay works, i was raised muslim so IDK how christmas or hannukah works, this is pretty uneventful & kinda domestic, tj realises hes got a crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 14:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17024070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fredastaire/pseuds/fredastaire
Summary: TJ has not quite realized he has a crush on Cyrus yet.





	one small (fiery) crush 💫 1/12

Cyrus’ face was flushed from the cold when he rushed into the gym, panting. He leaned over, putting his hands on his knees, and TJ stopped dribbling his basketball boredly (which he’d been doing for at least 5 minutes, wondering where Cyrus was).

 

“Took you long enough.” TJ said, but he was grinning.

 

Cyrus was rubbing his cheek and frowning, so TJ’s grin drooped. “What happened?” He asked, dropping the basketball into a cart (full of other basketballs).

 

“I tripped. Over _decor_.” Cyrus mumbled, taking his hand away to show a little scratch.

 

“Ah, a classic Cyrus injury, holiday edition.” TJ was relieved that Cyrus wasn’t seriously injured, and let himself smile again. He really was doing a lot of smiling these days, wasn’t he?

 

“Being clumsy is tiring.” Cyrus said, shrugging. “So are we going or what?”

 

“Of course we are.” TJ adjusted his hoodie and then shoved his hands into them. They exited the gym together and were immediately assaulted in the face with cold wind. Cyrus actually stumbled backwards, but TJ caught him by the arm before he could fall right into the snow.

 

“It’s stuff like this that causes Cyrus injuries.” Cyrus said, but TJ couldn’t hear him over the howling wind. Cyrus sighed, and hooked his arm with TJ’s, earning a surprised glance. “So I don’t fall,” he practically yelled through the wind. TJ just nodded, looking straight ahead so that Cyrus couldn’t see his odd expression.

 

The wind calmed down as they walked, but they stayed hooked arm-in-arm, even when all threats of tumbling over had passed. Finally, they reached Cyrus’ house. TJ lived down the street, a 10 minutes’ walk away from Cyrus’, so they’d made a habit of walking home together. Especially on snowy, windy days like this, because it got lonely walking alone on those days. The boys awkwardly unhooked their arms, and Cyrus looked up at TJ questioningly. TJ was just waiting for a goodbye, but it was like neither of them wanted to say it.

 

“Do you.. wanna come in?” Cyrus asked, instead of saying goodbye. “I’d be a bad friend if I didn’t offer you a hot drink or something.”

TJ nodded quickly. “Uh, yeah, if your parents don’t mind.”

 

“They won’t. I doubt they’ll notice another person in the house, anyway.” Cyrus knocked on the door, and TJ was certain he could hear someone yell, from inside, ‘CYRUS!’

 

The person who opened the door wasn’t any of Cyrus’ parents, which confused TJ a bit. She was a stout woman, and she had some of Cyrus’ endearing features. Definitely family. “Cyrus? And.. oh, who’s this?”

 

“This is my... this is TJ.” Cyrus smiled back at her, and then glanced over at TJ. “And TJ, this is my aunt Amy. She’s in town for a few days to spend a bit of Hanukkah with us. My cousins are here too,” he explained to him. TJ nodded quickly, then stuck out a hand to the woman, suddenly overcome with the need to make a good first impression.

 

She took his hand and shook it gently, and he got the impression that she was a gentle person in general. That’s why it was such a surprise when a little toddler screamed ‘CYRUS!’ and practically tackled Cyrus as the two boys entered his house. TJ didn’t know how it was possible for someone as quiet as Amy Goodman (was her last name even Goodman? He’d have to ask later.) to mother someone as rowdy as that child _and_ the one that came tumbling into the mess only seconds after. When he finished pushing them off of him, Cyrus pointed at TJ (who had just been standing there awkwardly, not even knowing whether to take off his shoes or not). “Say hi, guys. This is my friend TJ.” Cyrus’ voice when he was talking to the kids was so gentle that TJ wondered if he might melt. The two children turned identical heads to look at him, and suddenly TJ felt like a deer in headlights.

 

“Hi,” one of them said, unenthusiastically, and TJ got the impression that she didn’t like him very much, which hurt more than it should have. The other one just waved, and TJ wondered where the rowdy kids from literal _seconds_ earlier had gone. Then, they ran off again.

 

“They’re pretty shy sometimes. Their names are Daphne and Reynold. Aunt Amy likes fancy-sounding names.” Cyrus said, and then stood up, kicking off his shoes. TJ followed suit, and then followed Cyrus into a wider space, where the twins were chasing each other and Aunt Amy was lounging in a chair. Farther back, there was a dining table, and then a doorway that led clearly into a kitchen.

 

Cyrus’ mother poked her head out of the kitchen. She raised an eyebrow at TJ, but having had met him at Cyrus’ Bar Mitzvah, didn’t need an introduction. “Hello, boys. Will you be staying for dinner, TJ?”

 

TJ gaped, not expecting the question. "I.. urgh.." I _would_ _love_ _to,_ he wanted to say. But he didn't want to sound too eager. Was it _really_ weird to want to spend time at your friend's house, though? He glanced over at Cyrus, to be met with the other boy staring expectantly at him, and TJ couldn't say _no_ to that. "Sure," he told Cyrus' mom, trying his best to sound casual.

Cyrus dragged TJ to the dining table, where he pulled out a char and sat backwards on it. TJ kept standing, leaning on the back of the couch. "What do you wanna do?" Cyrus asked, tilting his head.

"What do you do? I mean, during the holiday.. season." TJ asked in return, feeling his face flare up as he realised he knew virtually nothing about Hannukah. He knew about menorahs and dreidels. Vaguely. And it wasn't like he had any hands-on experiences with them. Plus, if it was anything like Christmas, Cyrus' family probably had their own traditions.

Cyrus just looked at him kindly. "I mean, in my family, we like to help out with food and dinner preparations more on Hannukah nights."

And that's how TJ found himself leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, watching as Cyrus took a bowl of something from his mother and started mixing it. His mother looked grateful, and put a kiss on the top of his head. TJ almost felt like he was intruding on something, until Cyrus looked at him. "Are you just going to stand there and watch or are you going to help?"

Oh. Right. TJ stepped into the small kitchen (it was just big enough for the three of them) and looked over Cyrus' shoulder at what he was mixing with his hands. TJ didn't recognize it, but Cyrus seemed very focused on it. "What can I do?" He asked awkwardly, and Cyrus jumped a little, as if he'd forgotten they were having a conversation. Cyrus turned his head to look up at him and TJ _could_ have kissed him, but that would have been quite the ordeal to explain to Cyrus and his mother. "I absolutely can’t cook," he added quickly when Cyrus didn't respond.

"You can set the table." Cyrus said and pointed up at a cabinet. It was a bit higher than the other ones, but TJ shuffled to Cyrus's side and leaned up a bit, grasping the cabinet's door knob.

Cyrus grinned, still watching. “I usually can’t reach that cabinet,” he said, “But now we’ve got you.” He bumped TJ’s shoulder with his affectionately.

“I _knew_ there was an ulterior motive to our friendship.” TJ said, swinging open the cabinet and grabbing three plates stacked up on top of each other.  

Cyrus laughed. “I _would_ hug you right now, but my hands are covered in potato stuff,” he said, and that made TJ feel warm inside.

He made a few trips, setting a plate in front of each seat, plus forks and spoons. When he was satisfied, he ducked back into the kitchen to see if there was anything else to help with, but Cyrus was washing his hands, and it seemed like there were no other jobs to do, so TJ just waited. Cyrus finished, and then looked at his mother for more instructions.

“I’ll do the rest. Frankly, I don’t trust you around the stove after last time, Cyrus,” she said, smiling. “You go play with your friend.”

They took seats at the dining table, Cyrus sitting backwards again, and TJ turning his so that he could look at Cyrus. “What happened last time?” He asked as soon as they sat down.

Cyrus seemed to wince at the mention. “I burnt a sunny side up. Brutally.”

TJ smiled. “Could be worse. I burned an entire cake once.”

Cyrus raised an eyebrow. “Really? But you’re good at everything.”

“I’m really not,” he shook his head quickly, “ _especially_ not baking.”

“Well, you _could_ practice.”

“I could say the same to you.”

“Okay, fair.” Cyrus stuck out a hand. “Burnt food buds?”

TJ shook it. “Burnt food buds.”

The next thing they did was eat, and TJ was worse at it than he expected to be. They spoke in what he assumed was Hebrew first, and he just sat and stared down so that no one would look at him. He didn’t know what some of the foods were, but he didn’t want to offend Cyrus or his family so he ate whatever fit on his plate. Cyrus noticed him randomly picking foods and started to point to them and tell him their names, which TJ appreciated so much.

And then came the talking.

“What does TJ stand for?” Cyrus’ father asked, probably thinking it would be a good icebreaker. It didn’t help when Cyrus looked, wide-eyed, at him, probably realising that _he_ didn’t even know the answer to that.

TJ felt his face begin to burn up. “Tyson-Jasper.”

Cyrus looked like he might spit out his food, but he swallowed it and then exclaimed, “That doesn’t fit you at _all_.”

TJ put his head in his hands. “I know. My mother wanted to keep the gemstone theme they started with Amber, but my father really wanted the name Tyson in there because it sounded, I don’t know, cool? They compromised.”

Cyrus grinned. “It gives you a cool story though.”

TJ looked over at him, and they locked eyes. TJ thought his grin was so cute. Or endearing. Or pretty. Even when he stopped grinning, there was a little bit of a laugh left in his eyes. TJ hadn’t noticed that before, but it kind of made him want to draw closer. Was he staring? He was definitely staring. But Cyrus was staring back.

Someone coughed. TJ whipped his head around, as if he’d been caught. Cyrus’ father was drilling holes into his skull, as if trying to figure out something, but TJ was just as confused as he was. Did he really _like Cyrus_ ? A part of him felt like groaning, and the other part of him felt tingly and warm and _good_. This felt like a good thing. This had to be a good thing.

He stole another glance at Cyrus.

Yeah. This was going to be a good thing.

 

**Author's Note:**

> i hope this turned out alright!


End file.
